


Desperate Times

by Mi_Impossible



Category: Mute (2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Happy Ending, Hopeful Ending, Light Angst, Past Character Death, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Prostitution, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-02-23 19:23:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18708415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mi_Impossible/pseuds/Mi_Impossible
Summary: Leo ties up some loose ends, Luba learns the truth and, in the process, Josie's family grows.





	Desperate Times

**Author's Note:**

> I found Naadirah and Luba's dynamic interesting, where he's in love with her and she just treats him like the stereotypical gay best friend.  
> When Leo figured out what had happened to Naadirah I hoped he'd tell Luba bc he still thought she had taken all the money he made for her and left. This is me fixing that.  
> I apologise in advance for the overuse of single-sentence paragraphs.

"Promise you'll come back?" Josie asked, her big brown eyes staring up at Leo with concern. The same eyes looking at Leo from higher up and further away, staring out of the sunken face of Josie's grandmother. The same eyes Naadirah had when she was alive. "Who will teach me better drawing if you don't? Grandma is terrible at art."

Josie's grandmother let out a startled laugh, watery with the remnants of tears. Tears of sorrow shed in memory of her daughter. Tears of joy shed in honour of her granddaughter.

Leo looked at Josie's grandmother for affirmation. When she smiled and nodded, Leo in turn nodded hesitantly.

A beatific smile split across Josie's face. Leo smiled back, small but hopeful. He gave her a tiny wave and turned to walk away.

Before Leo could get far, he heard rapid footfalls approaching. Josie tapped his elbow and handed him a piece of paper. He made to unfold it, but she stopped him. "No! You must look at it later." She then added, in a whisper, "when you are sad again." She gave him a knowing look, and although those eyes made anyone look wise, Leo was certain in that moment that no one understood emotions better than children. Josie might not fully understand Leo's pain, but she could see it as clearly as though it were printed on his forehead.

Leo wandered back to Cactus Bill's garish American truck in a daze. His life had been so consumed by his search for Naadirah recently that he was lost. He would be lost without her by his side under any circumstances, but right now he was at a complete loss for what to do.

Everything hurt. Leo could handle the the physical injuries the last few days had inflicted on him; he was no stranger to bodily injury. But he felt like a part of him was missing. As though there was an open wound in his chest where something critical had been scraped out with a spoon. It wasn't a pain he felt in his body, but it hurt far more than any physical injury he had ever received before.

Closing his eyes, Leo imagined that Naadirah was alright. That she had left to carve herself a better life somewhere else, without him. That would have been alright with Leo. As long as Naadirah had been happy, he would have been alright.

_Love is fucking crazy, man._

With a start, Leo's unfocussed eyes and wandering mind both snapped to attention. It had completely slipped his mind until that very moment.

Leo was not the only one who loved Naadirah.

Leo was not the only one willing to do anything for Naadirah.

Leo was not the only one who thought Naadirah had left him behind.

 _She took the money_   _I made_ _for her, and_ _she left!_

Leo was, however, the only one who knew the truth.

Taking in a deep breath that ended on a sigh, Leo turned the keys in the ignition. It wasn't as though he had anything better to do with himself.

* * *

It took half an hour for Leo to arrive at the flat, alternating between driving so fast that the accelerator seemed to be wearing a hole in the sole of his shoe, neon lights streaking past, and being stuck in such terrible traffic that he was essentially parked at stoplights. He didn't care. He didn't have anywhere else to be.

When Leo arrived, no one was there. He knocked, looked around for a doorbell, everything. He settled himself on a crate a few metres away from the door and pulled out his notebook and pencil. He supposed there wasn't much to do with it except draw, now that he didn't need it for speech. Leo started sketching a seahorse, knowing he was in for a long wait. He didn't care. He didn't have anywhere else to be.

It took half an hour for Luba to arrive at the flat. He walked down the alleyway with a sort of insolent elegance the way he always did, looking suspiciously at the figure sprawled out on the crate opposite his door.

Luba was back to looking like himself. His unnaturally blond hair was stiff with too much product, its sheen reflecting the neon glow of nighttime Berlin and casting the right side of his face into shadow. He blinked his enormous white eyelashes several times before seemingly realising who Leo was. His eyes narrowed. "Are you fucking deaf as well as mute? I've told you like five times to  _fuck off_ ," he snarled, accent bending around the vowels. "Do I need to get a restraining order or something?"

Walking slowly towards Luba in a way more reminiscent of approaching a spooked animal in the wild than walking towards a mouthy rentboy in a back alley, Leo shook his head gently. He opened his mouth to speak but Luba, ever the chatterbox, cut him off.

"I won't help you find Naadirah, you won't pay for my time. You're wasting your time. And mine. Leave. Me. _Alone_."

"Dead," Leo croaked.

"Holy  _fuck_ ," Luba exclaimed, his eyes widening and causing one side of his ridiculous eyelashes to brush his fringe. "Tech-tard no more, huh?" Then Leo's words seemed to catch up with him. "Who the fuck is dead?"

"Naadirah."

" _No_ ," Luba whispered. "No, she can't be."

Leo simply nodded.

After a moment of silence, Luba lunged. " _You fucker_! If you had anything to do with this I _swear to fuck_!" He pinned Leo against the wall of the alleyway, raining down shockingly strong blows.

If Leo had been asked, he would have guessed that Luba would fight dirty. He did. His knee to Leo's stomach, his forehead to Leo's nose, his elbows to every square inch of Leo's chest. Repeatedly. Leo idly wondered when Luba's perfectly manicured nails would get in on the action.

Luba continued to scream profanities and sentences with emphasis on the word  _you._ " _You_  were her boyfriend! _You_! She was with  _you_! _You_  were the last one to see her! _You_ should have protected her!" Luba seemed to stall, like a badly installed cybernetic limb. "I would have," he whispered. Then he collapsed. His legs gave out under him, and Leo lurched forward to catch him.

Leo thought Luba was having some kind of seizure for a moment before realising that his body was actually wracked with sobs. His breaths were coming in gasps, jarring out of his body as though he had no control over them. He probably didn't. "I would have," He choked out again, his nails digging into the fabric of Leo's jacket. "I would have."

After what felt like hours but was probably only a minute of Luba clinging to Leo, Luba staggered to his feet. He made a face that suggested he was disgusted with himself and wiped at his eyes, his left eyelash sliding up too high, and his right peeling off from the outer corner. He looked more human than Leo had ever seen him look. Not that Luba wasn't human. Just that he was so unapproachable and daunting as a person that he seemed like something else a lot of the time. He wore his clothes and hair and makeup like armour, and that exterior seemed beyond human.

Luba reached up and peeled his eyelashes off. " _Fuck_ ," he sighed.

"Fuck," Leo agreed.

Luba's laugh rang clear through the alley. "You have no idea how fucking surreal it is to hear you speak, let alone swear."

Leo accepted it as the apology it was and nodded. "Thought you should know."

"That Naadirah's dead? Thanks!" Luba said with utmost sarcasm.

"That she didn't... Take the money you made for her and leave."

"Oh," Luba said quietly. Sighing and closing his eyes, he asked, "What happened?"

"Cactus."

Luba's nostrils flared. "That  _fucker_." He cracked his knuckles. "I'm gonna kill him. I don't care if his creep friend decides to fuck with me after."

"Dead."

Turning to look at Leo slowly, Luba asked, "you killed them _both_?"

Leo nodded.

"Wow, you  _are_ one vicious fucker," Luba cackled.

Leo was silent.

"What about," Luba hesitated and glanced at Leo, assessing. "Cactus' daughter?"

"Josie," Leo said, smiling gently. Remembering earlier, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the slip of paper Josie had given to him. He supposed  _he_ wasn't sad again, but Luba was.

Taking a few steps towards Leo, Luba peered at the paper. "What's that?"

Leo unfolded the paper and smiled harder. He heard an intake of breath behind him, followed by a small chuckle. "She's quite the artist, huh?"

Nodding, Leo smoothed out the creases of the drawing. It was of two teddy bears, as Josie's drawing so often were. They were hugging, and although Josie had drawn tears, the bears were smiling. Below, in her child's scrawl, she had written  _you're not alone_.

In the most shocking turn of the whole encounter, Luba reached up and hugged Leo. "I'm glad she's alright. We used to babysit her at work, that bastard would just leave her there whenever." Luba stepped back. "Used to call me aunt or uncle, depending on the day. Sweet kid."

"She needs family."

Luba raised one eyebrow at Leo, pulling a cigarette and lighter out of seemingly nowhere.

"More than just a grandmother."

Understanding sparked in Luba's eyes along with the reflection of the lighter's flame. He took a deep drag and said, "And two people who were in love with her dead mother are the perfect candidates?" Smoke fanned out around Leo's head as Luba spoke. Despite the pessimism of the question, there was hope written clearly on his face.

"Desperate times."

"Am I being voluntold into godparenting Naadirah's kid with you?"

Leo smiled.

Exhaling smoke, Luba nodded vaguely in acknowledgment. He leaned against the wall of the alley and moved his cigarette around in his mouth. He adjusted his hair.

"She likes old fashioned breakfast."

Luba blinked. It looked odd without gigantic false eyelashes. He visibly steeled himself. "You know where to find me."

Leo smiled, realising that he had found himself smiling a lot during this conversation. Despite the circumstances, he was filled with hope. Josie had him and her grandmother and her... Aunt/uncle. And even though everything hurt, Leo could find respite in the company of others who understood his pain.

Desperate times indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> Did you catch me constantly mentioning Luba's eyelashes? Yeah, that's cos they're undebatably a look.  
> If you read this for some reason, thanks! Kudos and comments sustain my gradually decaying soul


End file.
